Appeals Court says ICC Could Charge Sudan President with Genocide

Appeals court judges have ruled the International Criminal Court was wrong to decide Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir could not be charged with genocide for his actions on Darfur.

The ruling by the appeals judges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague was unanimous.

The appeals judges ruled to reverse a previous court decision, saying it had used an overly high standard of proof to dismiss genocide charges against Sudan President Omar Al-Bashir.

Last year, the court charged Mr. Bashir with war crimes and crimes against humanity - including murder, extermination, torture and rape. Seven years of conflict in Sudan's Darfur province have killed about 300,000 people and displaced nearly three million.

But the appeals judges did not agree to the prosecutor's request to rule Mr. Bashir was responsible for genocide. The pre-trial chamber must take up that issue again.

Amnesty International senior legal advisor Christopher Hall hailed the appeal judges' ruling.

"I think little by little, the vice is closing in on him and at some point he will have to face a trial in the International Criminal Court in the same way that President Milosevic or President Taylor or numerous other officials from Rwanda and Sierra Leone have had to face trials," said Christopher Hall.

In remarks to the Associated Press news agency, a spokesman for the Sudanese government dismissed the court's decision as having no consequence, and said Mr. Bashir would run for re-election in April. While several countries have ignored the court's international arrest warrant against Mr. Bashir, he is increasingly isolated.

The court's arrest warrant against Mr. Bashir is its first against a sitting head of state.

Source:voanews.com/

Four Million Hungry People In Southern Sudan

ROME, Feb 3 (Bernama) -- The Rome-based World Food Programme said that there are nearly four million hungry people in southern Sudan since last August due to the drought that hit the region and internal conflicts, the Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.

The coordinator of the WFP Leo Van Der Velden said that the rise in the number of hungry people came shortly before the rainy season, which leads to difficulty in delivering food aid to the population centres.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry said that the internal conflict and attacking the so-called IRA, Uganda and the drought that hit the region had led to the suffering of almost half the population in the south and to the scarcity of food.

The conflict in southern Sudan between the northern and southern tribes has resulted in the killing last year of 2500 people and to displacing about 350 people.

The news agency, citing a broadcast on Radio London, reported that the total population in need of food aid in Sudan amounted to some 11 million people.

In a statement, United Nations said that they are trying to ensure that Sudanese people have enough food aid until next season to harvest in October.

Source:bernama.com/

Kenya PM backs Sudan referendum

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 3 - Prime Minister Raila Odinga has called on the international community to let the people of Southern Sudan exercise their right to self-determination in a referendum scheduled for next year.

In a statement, the PM said it was imperative that the international community support the referendum as it was part of the issues agreed upon in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in Nairobi in 2005.

He emphasised that Kenya was fully committed to and would respect the outcome of a free and fair referendum, whether it favours a continuation of the union or creation of an independent state.

Mr Odinga said: “I strongly urge the entire international community to pursue a similar course and offer maximum assistance in implementing the referendum’s outcome, whatever it might be.”

Saying the CPA had made unprecedented advances in promoting democracy in the Sudan, Mr Odinga expressed concern that senior most officials in the United Nations and the African Union opposed the referendum’s option of creating a sovereign nation in the South.

He said such a stand would undermine the principle of peaceful resolution of disputes of which the CPA is an outstanding example globally. “Having done so much to advance this historic process of self-determination, it is preposterous that anyone would seek a pre-determined outcome in the referendum,” he added.

Mr Odinga pointed out that by the agreement coming to its current conclusive stage it was a tribute to the African Union which courageously broke with precedent and recognised that in the Sudan peace and development would not be divisive but actually strengthened if people of the south could exercise their right to self-determination.

He noted that the United Nations had also supported this historic initiative and will oversee the elections and the referendum.

The Premier however acknowledged that major challenges need to be resolved in order for the referendum to be completely free, fair and transparent, saying critical issues such as border demarcation and population census process need to be addressed.

He urged the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) which was the convener and overseer of the peace talks in Nairobi to ensure that these outstanding issues are resolved in a manner that creates confidence in the ultimate referendum outcome.

“Unresolved they pose a serious danger to the holding of a peaceful and credible referendum,” he said. And added, “If the people are allowed to participate in a free and fair referendum , Sudan as one or two countries- will be stronger for it and this in turn will promote peace, democracy and stability in the entire region and globally.”

Source:capitalfm.co.ke/

UN insists not taking sides in Sudan referendum

UNITED NATIONS-The United Nations insisted Tuesday it was up to the people of south Sudan to decide whether or not to opt for independence in an upcoming referendum, but said it would try to avert conflict in case of a yes vote.

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky sought to clarify remarks UN chief Ban Ki-moon made in an interview in Addis Ababa Saturday in which he said the world body "will work toward (Sudan's) national unity."

He said in a statement that Ban "made clear that the UNITED NATIONS would work to support the parties in their efforts to 'make unity attractive' as well as the exercise by the people of southern Sudan of their right to self-determination in a referendum."

"In this connection, he made clear that the United Nations would work to avoid any potential negative consequences (conflict) following next year's referendum," Nesirky added.

"Any suggestion that the United Nations may have taken a position that may prejudge the outcome of such a referendum is incorrect."

A referendum on independence for southern Sudan is to be held in January 2011, and Ban said in the interview it was important for the United Nations and the African Union (AU) to be prepared, whatever the result.

"Now whatever the outcome may be, the United Nations has a very important obligation, responsibility, together with the African Union that there needs to be a peace maintained," Ban said.

"The United Nations position is that we will work toward the national unity, basically, but that depends upon how the people of south Sudan will decide through this referendum," the UN chief said.

Ban's reference to national unity in the interview was meant to signal support for a clause of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between Sudan's Muslim north and largely Christian south that ended a 21-year civil war.

"We need to ensure that this referendum should be taken in accordance with the CPA," the UN boss said.

The agreement stated that "the successful implementation of the CPA shall provide a model for good governance in the Sudan that will help create a solid basis to preserve peace and make unity attractive."

It allowed the creation of a semi-autonomous government for the south and paved the way for April's presidential, parliamentary and regional elections, as well as next year's referendum.

Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir said last week that Khartoum would recognize the independence of southern Sudan if it chose to secede in the referendum.

North and south are due to draw the 2,100 kilometre (1,300 mile) border between the two regions this year -- a delicate issue because of the significant oil reserves in the area.

Ban said it was vital that the elections and the referendum were carried out in a credible, transparent way.

"There are many fundamentally important issues like border demarcation, sharing wealth, citizenship. All these fundamentally important issues should be resolved so that the referendum can be held and so that we can ensure that the situation will be peaceful," he said.

Source:AFP

Sudan referendum must go ahead

Only a year is left before southern Sudan is due to hold a referendum on independence – a key provision of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended a decades-long civil war that left two million dead. Since then, the tragedy in Darfur has overshadowed the tension in the south. Now Sudan and the world have no time to lose in acting to save the peace.

It was never certain that a referendum would take place at all. Such predictability is precluded by the violent regime of Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir – who was indicted on genocide charges by the International Criminal Court last year – and the fact that a vote will probably favour secession.
But any attempt to prevent the referendum or pre-empt its outcome would immediately reignite the civil war. It must go ahead, even if a vote for secession will challenge both Sudan and the outside world. The best that can be hoped for is an orderly transition should secession indeed be the outcome. Managing such a transition must now be the aim of Sudanese politicians and the international community.

The conflict is made worse by the presence of oil in the south, which raises the stakes in whether the south is controlled from Khartoum or Juba.

Another wild card is Mr Bashir’s indictment. The Sudanese army’s crimes in Darfur amply justified the ICC’s warrant. But justice does not always provide the luxury of also creating good political incentives. Mr Bashir may want to undermine the referendum unless he can exact a price in the form of regained international legitimacy.

And yet, the peace treaty is working, however imperfectly. There has been no shortage of clashes and tensions, but mechanisms for resolving them peacefully have grown in strength. Last July, the permanent court of arbitration in the Hague ruled to split the disputed Abiey province, an oil-producing region claimed by both the north and the south. Promisingly, both said they would accept the ruling. And in December, a deal was reached that the south could secede if a simple majority of a 60 per cent turnout agreed.

The world must help Sudan steer through this process – without taking advantage of it. Above all, this applies to China, which is deeply embroiled in its oil sector. Preparations for the legal mess of an eventual secession cannot wait.

For the sake of their people and the credibility of future peace treaties Sudanese leaders must stick to the CPA’s terms. On this war-torn continent, its success is vital.

Source:ft.com/

Chad's Deby says will visit Sudan next week

NDJAMENA — Chad's President Idriss Deby Itno said Wednesday he will travel to Khartoum next week to meet Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir, amid a thaw in relations between the African neighbours.

The two countries signed an agreement last month to set up a joint force on their border, which effectively means that Chad would have to stop supporting Darfur rebels and Sudan would cease backing Chadian rebels.

"I am going to Khartoum on 8th of February to have talks with President al-Beshir," Deby said in a speech to a conference of parliamentarians from around 20 Francophone countries in Chad.

"At the time I am talking to you, he has not yet been informed, so I'm giving you this scoop. He will be informed at the end of this meeting."

"I am a man of dialogue and openness. War has never settled things and I know what I'm talking about, dear parliamentarians. Chad wants to live in perfect harmony with all its neighbours."

Source:AFP

Sudan Tops Foreign Policy Concerns in Obama YouTube Appearance

Washington DC — While President Obama was delivering his first State of the Union address January 27, thousands of Americans went online and submitted their own questions via the popular video Web site YouTube.

People could also vote on the 11,000 questions that were sent in, and on February 1, Obama — who had not seen them in advance — responded to the questions with the highest approval ratings. His responses streamed live from the White House.

Some of the questions Obama dealt with in the first-ever presidential YouTube interview were addressed in his State of the Union speech as well: health care, jobs, the financial crisis, terrorism and Afghanistan. But the top vote-getter in terms of the percentage who thought it a good question — more than 90 percent — had to do with Sudan, a topic not addressed in his speech.

U.S. WORKING FOR LASTING PEACE AGREEMENT IN SUDAN

Asked what he would do to ensure that widespread violence does not occur in Sudan this year, the president replied, “The situation in Sudan has been heartbreaking but also extremely difficult.”

He said he began working from the day he came into office to ensure that people in refugee camps in Darfur had access to water, food and other necessities of life and that nongovernmental assistance organizations could return.

“The next step in the challenge is to broker a lasting peace agreement between rebels who are still in the Darfur region and [the Sudanese] government,” Obama explained, noting that his special envoy on Sudan, Scott Gration, was trying to bring together the international community “to get that deal brokered.”

The aim, Obama said, is “a series of agreements that would stabilize the country, and then allow the refugees who are in Darfur to start moving back to their historic lands.”

“Sadly, because of the genocide that took place earlier, a lot of those villages are now destroyed. And so thinking about how to resettle these populations in places that are viable economically, that have the resources to support populations, is a long-term development challenge that the international community is going to have to support.”

The United States continues “to put pressure on the Sudanese government,” Obama said. ”If they are not cooperative in these efforts, then it is going to be appropriate for us to conclude that engagement doesn’t work, and we’re going to have to apply additional pressure on Sudan in order to achieve our objectives.”

“WE ARE AT WAR AGAINST A VERY SPECIFIC GROUP”

Asked about his plans for the “war on terror” and the threat of terrorism, Obama began by re-defining who the enemy is: not an abstraction like “terror” but “a very specific group — al-Qaida and its extremist allies that have metastasized around the globe, that would attack us, attack our allies, attack bases and embassies around the world, and most sadly, attack innocent people regardless of their backgrounds, regardless of their religions.”

“We have to fight them in very concrete ways in Afghanistan and along the border regions of Pakistan where they are still holed up,” Obama said. “They have spread to places like Yemen and Somalia, and we are working internationally with partners to try to limit their scope of operations and dismantle them in those regions.”

“But we also have to battle them with ideas,” Obama continued. “We have to … work with the overwhelming majority of Muslims who reject senseless violence of this sort, and to work to provide different pathways and different alternatives for people expressing whatever policy differences that they may have. And I think we haven’t done as good of a job on that front.”

Obama also spoke of the need to help countries such as Yemen and Pakistan economically, “to make sure that young people there have opportunity.”

Plans to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay have met “a lot of political resistance,” Obama said. “It’s been one of those things that’s been subject to a lot of, in some cases, pretty rank politics.”

Noting that Congress can constrain his ability to move the prisoners held at Guantánamo by refusing to allocate funds for new facilities, Obama said, “This is something that we’ve got to work through … in Congress, but also with public opinion so that people understand that ultimately this is the right thing to do.”

On energy, the president repeated his support for solar, wind and other alternative energy sources, but added that those sources could not meet the nation’s energy needs. He urged Americans to look at the successful nuclear power programs in Japan and France. “We’re mindful of the concerns about storage, of spent fuel, and concerns about security, but we still think [nuclear energy is] the right thing to do if we’re serious about dealing with climate change.”

He also called for research into clean-coal technology because countries like China and India are not going to stop using coal and the world will need the technology to deal with its use in an environmentally responsible way.

At the end of the session, Obama expressed enthusiasm for the Internet as a way of hearing from and talking with the public. “This was terrific,” he said. “I hope we get a chance to do this on a more regular basis because it gives me great access to all the people out there with wonderful ideas.”

The full text of the interview is available on America.gov. The video is available on the White House Web site

Source:media-newswire.com

SUDAN: Universal access still a long way off in the south

JUBA, 3 February 2010 (PlusNews) - Southern Sudan's poor infrastructure, largely illiterate population and dearth of health facilities and workers mean that despite five years of peace, HIV programmes are still in their infancy.

There are no national-level statistics on HIV prevalence or incidence, further hampering the fight against the pandemic, but a 2007 site-specific antenatal surveillance by the US Centres for Disease control found prevalence levels ranging from as low as 0.8 percent in Leer, Unity State, to as high as 11.5 percent in Tambura, Western Equatoria State.

"We use an estimate of 3.1 percent for the south, and we know that the epidemic is more concentrated in big towns and areas near the border with our neighbours who have higher prevalence, such as Kenya and Uganda, but so far we have not conducted a survey of HIV indicators," Bellario Ahoy Ngong, chairman of the South Sudan AIDS Commission (SSAC) told IRIN/PlusNews.

Ngong said HIV was spread mainly through heterosexual transmission, and was worse in the areas where trading opportunities had expanded since the Comprehensive peace Agreement with the north was signed in 2005.

"There has been a lot of movement of people since we attained peace, and in the big towns like Juba, Yei and Yambio, sex work has increased along with trade," he said. "Unfortunately, our people have very low knowledge of HIV transmission and prevention, so they are very vulnerable."
Health system reconstruction

Dr Samson Baba, director-general of the Ministry of Health's directorate of external assistance and coordination, said the plan would give 85 percent to 90 percent of people access to "acceptable levels of healthcare" within 10 years.

"Through the Multi-Donor Trust Fund [a World Bank mechanism to coordinate the reconstruction and development of Sudan], we are creating a basic healthcare package that stipulates the minimum standard of care that should be available at all health centres within the country," he told IRIN/PlusNews.

"We are also embarking on an ambitious training programme for health workers ... using NGOs to train local staff, sending locals abroad for training, and developing our own training institutions," he said. "At current training levels, it would take us 66 years to satisfy our midwife gap, but with our accelerated plan it should take 10 years."

The government intends scaling up its ART sites to at least 20 by the end of 2011, with at least one in each of the south's 10 states, and to double the number of people on ART.

"Achieving universal access will be a slow process because of all the difficulties," said WHO's Busulwa, "but there is strong political commitment and the government does want to take ownership of the programmes, so it will eventually happen."

Source:plusnews.org/

Sudan starts oil exploration in Red Sea

Sudanese government has started drilling its first overseas offshore exploration well in the Red Sea Basin off Sudan with the help of the state China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).

Sudanese minister of Energy and Mining Al-Zubair Ahmed Al-Hassan and Governor of the Red Sea Province Mohamed Taher have attended the launching ceremony of the drilling operations on Monday February 1.

The well falls in Area 15 under the franchise of the Red Sea Petroleum Operating Co., a consortium of five firms including the CNPC, Malaysia’s state oil firm Petronas, Sudan’s state oil firm Sudapet, Nigeria’s Express Petroleum and Sudanese firm High Tech Group.

Petronas and CNPC each have a 35 percent interest in the block 15.

The Sudanese minister said results are positive from prospecting for oil and gas in the Red Sea.

Tokar-1 is one of two exploration wells in Block 15, located some 130 kilometers southeast of Port Sudan. The CNPC and its partners plan to complete drilling in six months.

The wells have a designed drilling depth of 3,700 meters, and water depths of 38 meters and 52 meters respectively.

Sudan started producing oil in 1998 with an initial daily output of 150,000 barrels which rose to the current 500,000 barrels. Most of the current production is from oil wells in southern Sudan. The government plans to launch this year exploration and production of oil and gas in southern Darfur and Sennar states, besides another block (10) in eastern Sudan.

Source:sudantribune.com/

Human rights groups slam state on refugee statements

Human rights organizations accused the government of lying to the public about the threat of infiltrators from Africa in an effort to prevent Sudanese and Eritrean asylum seekers from obtaining sanctuary in Israel. A coalition of the organizations held a press conference in Tel Aviv on Wednesday and presented a report, which they say exposes the government’s lies.

The report was prepared by nine groups in advance of a Knesset debate on the infiltration protection bill scheduled for Wednesday. The participating organizations – the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, Amnesty-Israel, ASAF, the Migrant Workers Hotline, the African Refugees Development Center, the Israel Religious Action Center, Kav LaOved and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel – warn that the new law means that Israel would be backing out of its obligations to the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, incarcerating innocent refugees or deporting them to countries where their lives will be at risk and criminalizing those who aid asylum seekers.

The chief accusation in the report is that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and other ministers speak in “two voices.”

The report states that while government officials repeatedly told the public that a vast majority of the asylum seekers are not refugees, but rather labor migrants, they have told the international community a different story.

The report also states that documents produced by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which are based on official numbers that the government provides, show that as of 2009, 90.4 percent of the asylum seekers were indeed refugees from Sudan and Eritrea.

The report further claims that the government regularly inflates the security and demographic threat posed by asylum seekers. It quotes Netanyahu saying two weeks ago that “Israel will not allow its borders to be flooded by illegal foreign workers.”

The coalition also claims in their report that Netanyahu and other ministers are being disingenuous when alluding to both the numbers of asylum seekers waiting to cross over the border and the security risk they pose. The report states that the numbers of asylum seekers entering the country are actually in decline and that not a single asylum seeker has ever been charged with conducting terrorist activities.

Source:jpost.com/

Kenya Denies Helping Arm Southern Sudan

The Kenyan government has dismissed a report by a Swiss research institute that says it is secretly helping Southern Sudan stockpile weapons in violation of a U.S.-backed peace agreement. The Small Arms Survey says Southern Sudan government forces have received tanks and weapons that had previously been held in Kenya.

In an interview with VOA, Kenya's Defense Ministry Spokesman Bogita Ongeri dismissed the Small Arms Survey report as speculation.

The document, which contains satellite images allegedly showing T-72 Soviet tanks at the Southern Sudan military headquarters, claims the vehicles were the same tanks that arrived in Kenya in 2008. The Swiss team that authored the report says the photos are credible proof the Kenyan government has helped South Sudan obtain weapons in violation of a peace deal backed by the United States.

But Ongeri told VOA there is no evidence to back the claims, and the tanks are still in the hands of the Kenyan military.

"We have clearly indicated that those are our tanks and they are. I do no know where they are getting those things," he said.




AP
The Ukrainian cargo ship MV Faina arrives at the Kenyan port of Mombasa, 23 Feb 2009, after Somali pirates released the vessel held for some 4 months
The Soviet tanks first arrived at the Kenyan port of Mombassa amid a blaze of publicity in 2008, aboard the MV Faina cargo ship. The Ukrainian-owned vessel had recently been released by pirates after it was hijacked off the coast of neighboring Somalia.

Media attention on the ship's military cargo had led to increasing speculation it had originally been headed for South Sudan. The Small Arms Survey says the tanks were part of three shipments secretly under contract to the Southern Sudan government that were delivered to Kenya's Ministry of Defense.

Source:voanews.com/

The Top 10 Apologies Barack Obama should make to the world

The first year of Barack Obama’s presidency was marked by a series of embarrassing and groveling apologies for his country on the world stage. From his apology to the French for America’s supposed “arrogance”, to his massive mea culpa before the Muslim world in Egypt, President Obama succeeded in elevating national humiliation into an art form.

In his second year, I would strongly encourage the president to stop apologising for his country, and project more pride in his great nation’s past. The United States, together with Great Britain, have done more to advance the cause of liberty and freedom on the world stage than any other nations in history. From defeating the menace of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Empire, to liberating tens of millions of Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US and UK have consistently been at the forefront of the defence of the free world in the face of tyranny.

If President Obama does feel the urge to show contrition on the world stage in 2010, he should apologise not for his country but for his administration’s shoddy treatment of its allies as well as political dissidents fighting for freedom across the world. He has also shown extraordinary indifference towards the victims of Communist rule in Europe, as well as the hundreds of thousands who perished in Darfur at the hands of the Sudanese regime. While every dictatorship on earth, from Iran to Venezuela to Sudan has been earmarked for engagement by the Obama White House, some of America’s closest friends and supporters have been shunned, humiliated or left out in the cold.

So here is a list of apologies that Barack Obama should make on behalf of his own administration, for undermining America’s traditional alliances, treating America’s friends with contempt, and refusing to side with the victims of totalitarian regimes.

1. Apology to the British people

Barack Obama’s treatment of America’s closest ally has been little short of appalling. It started off badly when he threw a bust of Churchill out of the Oval Office within days of coming to power, and went downhill from there. He humiliated the British Prime Minister during his visit to Washington last March, treating him like the leader of a Third World country, and sent him packing with a gift of 25 DVDs. Obama has little interest in the Special Relationship, and cannot even bring himself to acknowledge the sacrifice of British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. As an exceedingly rude and ignorant senior State Department official put it - “There’s nothing special about Britain. You’re just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn’t expect special treatment.”

2. Apology to allies in Eastern and Central Europe

The Obama administration’s cowardly decision to appease Moscow by pulling out of an agreement to install missile interceptors and radars in Poland and the Czech Republic was an appalling betrayal of key US allies who had faced up to intense intimidation from Russia. As I wrote at the time, “the impending cancellation of Third Site is a shameful abandonment of America’s friends in eastern and central Europe, and a slap in the face for those who actually believed a key agreement with Washington was worth the paper it was written on.”

3. Apology to Iranian Dissidents

Barack Obama’s appeasement of the brutal Iranian regime in the name of “engagement” has not only emboldened Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs, but has also undercut the millions of Iranians who have bravely protested against the Islamist theocracy. President Obama has remained largely silent in the face of the brutal beating, rape, torture and murder of thousands of political dissidents since Ahmadinejad was fraudulently re-elected last year. Obama’s refusal to take a strong stand for fear of offending the Iranian regime is a disgrace, and a damning indictment of his world leadership.

4. Apology to the victims of Communism

Barack Obama made Berlin a central stage of his presidential election campaign when he addressed an adoring crowd of hundreds of thousands of Germans in July 2008. However in November 2009, President Obama could not be bothered to fly to Berlin to attend the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, when even the Russian president showed up. Hillary Clinton stood in for the commander-in-chief and delivered an underwhelming speech that was more about Obama than American leadership in the Cold War. The White House decision to snub the Berlin ceremony was an insult to the memory of the tens of millions who perished at the hands of Communism in Europe. It demonstrated a callous disregard for human suffering and a refusal to acknowledge the huge role played by Ronald Reagan and the American people in bringing down the Iron Curtain. It also displayed what can only de described as an arrogant disdain for the transatlantic alliance.

5. Apology to the victims of the Sudan genocide

The Obama administration’s decision to engage with the brutal regime in Khartoum led by Omar Hassan al-Bashir, was both shocking and morally sickening. Obama’s special envoy to Sudan, retired Air Force Major General J. Scott Gration summed up the new US strategy when he ludicrously declared: “We’ve got to think about giving out cookies. Kids, countries — they react to gold stars, smiley faces, handshakes, agreements, talk, engagement.” This sent an appalling signal to would be genocidal regimes across the world that even they can be rehabilitated after murdering hundreds of thousands of people. Although it has received relatively little attention, the White House’s offer to lift sanctions against Sudan in exchange for “concrete steps in a new direction”, was one of the worst decisions made by Barack Obama since he took office.

6. Apology to the people of Honduras

It is still difficult to fathom the reasoning behind the White House’s incredible decision to side with Marxist despot Manuel Zelaya after he was removed by the Honduran Congress with the backing of the country’s Supreme Court. The Obama administration immediately condemned the fully constitutional actions of pro-American legislators who acted against a power-hungry figure determined to stay in power beyond his fixed term of office. Bizarrely, the White House aligned itself with the likes of America-hating tyrants like Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro and Daniel Ortega against pro-democracy forces who love the United States.

7. Apology to the Israeli people

Barack Obama has shown less enthusiasm for backing Israel, America’s closest ally in the Middle East, than any president since Jimmy Carter. His speech before a Muslim audience in Cairo in June set the tone for his approach towards Israel when he controversially drew parallels between the plight of the Palestinians and the Jewish people during the Holocaust, and used the word “occupation” describing Palestinian refugee camps. Obama’s weakness in the face of the Iranian nuclear threat has also caused widespread concern, and has significantly increased the likelihood that Israel will have to defend itself against Iran.

8. Apology to pro-democracy forces in Venezuela

Barack Obama’s handshake with Hugo Chavez at the Summit of the Americas last April set the tone for a new, more amicable US relationship with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s chief ally in Latin America. It was a move that hugely undercut the democracy movement in Venezuela, and the millions of Venezuelans who are clamouring for freedom. Washington’s silence over widespread human rights violations by the Chavez regime is yet another blight on the Obama administration’s reputation. The president’s decision to reach out to Chavez was also a dangerously naive gesture that offered a veneer of legitimacy to one of the world’s biggest state sponsors of international terror, with close ties to Iran, Syria and Sudan.

9. Apology to the Dalai Lama

As The Telegraph reported last October, Barack Obama was the first US president to refuse to meet the Dalai Lama since the Tibetan spiritual leader first started visiting Washington nearly 20 years ago. This, despite the fact that he had been welcomed to the United States no less than 10 times, and had been awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest US civilian award. The White House decision was taken in order not to offend Beijing ahead of a November summit with Hu Jintao. There is now speculation Obama has changed his mind and will meet with the Dalai Lama later this month, despite strong Chinese opposition. A perfect opportunity then for an apology to one of the great symbols of freedom on the world stage.

10. Apology to Chinese dissidents

Freedom in China has been given short thrift by the Obama administration, which has attached less importance to human rights across the world than any American government in modern times. The position of the Obama team was put bluntly by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, when she was questioned about Chinese state oppression in a press roundtable in South Korea last February: “but our pressing on those issues can’t interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis, and the security crisis. We have to have a dialogue that leads to an understanding and cooperation on each of these.” Not exactly a message of US support for thousands of Chinese pro-democracy activists who regularly face imprisonment, beatings and torture.

Source:blogs.telegraph.co.uk/

Lost Boys vote in Chicago to inspire change in Sudan

Chicago’s Lost Boys of Sudan are setting an example for their families in Sudan by voting in Tuesday’s local primary election.
The refugees, exiled during the Sudanese civil war, never voted in their country. As the first in their families to cast a ballot, they are educating Sudanese about the importance of voting to create change. This at a time when Sudan is about to hold its first presidential election in more than two decades.

“The Lost Boys always take responsibility and are always looking for changes,” said Peter Magai Bul, 27, a Lost Boy and community activist. “They are doing this as citizens of the United States. You will see them voting in every election.”

Many Lost Boys, orphans named for their trek across Sudan to refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya during the war, voted early in the Chicago primaries, and those who didn’t said they would be at the polls Tuesday.

“It’s something that we don’t want to miss,” said Malual Awak, president of the Sudanese Community Association of Illinois.

Hundreds of Lost Boys from across the Midwest gathered at Truman College on Sunday to discuss Sudan’s upcoming election, call for an independent Southern Sudan and celebrate their birthdays. Because most of them do not have birth certificates, upon arrival in America they were assigned Jan. 31 as their collective birthday.

According to a 2008 survey by the United African Organization - a Chicago-based advocacy organizatoin - more than 90 percent of the estimated 30,000 naturalized African immigrants and refugees in metropolitan area vote in every election. They are interested in participating in every level,” said executive director Alie Kabba.

Voting is a way for refugees to become integrated into American society, and it also signifies freedom from the oppression many left behind in Africa, Kabba said.

“African refugees generally tend to come from countries with authoritarian regimes,” Kabba said. “One of the first things that they want to do here is demonstrate their yearning for a democratic society. It is a way for them to really call this place home.”

Voting has taken on an even greater significance for the Lost Boys, who hope to encourage their families to participate in Sudan’s first free presidential election in April after more than 20 years of single-party rule. “We vote to make a difference,” said Jacob Maker Dier, who became a citizen in 2007. “It’s setting an example (for our families). They have to show up.”

The Sudanese election was mandated by the 2005 peace agreement that ended the country’s 22-year civil war between the north and the south. The outcome of the election will have important significance. Some candidates are pushing for Southern Sudan’s secession, which will be decided in a referendum in 2011.

More than 150 Lost Boys have relocated to Chicago since 2001. They’ve made the city a stronghold for Sudanese activism, calling for a free and fair election in Sudan through organized events at universities and churches. Magai Bul, founder of Ayual Community Development Association, a non-profit dedicated to improving life in Southern Sudan, recently returned from a five-week trip to the country to educate residents about the voting process. Now he’s spreading his message through Facebook and Twitter.

“I’ve seen the consequences of when people are not allowed to participate,” Magai Bul said. “The consequence is war.”

Most of the population of Southern Sudan will not be allowed to vote, however. The Sudan government requires that voters present a passport, and many civilians lost any government identification they had during the war. The Lost Boys, who could theoretically vote in the Sudan election in absentia, also do not have Sudanese passports, but U.S. Ambassador to Sudan Akec Khoc said they will be able to apply for documentation at registration centers in Chicago in time to vote on the independence referendum next year.

Source:news.medill.northwestern.edu/

Sudan NCP express hope that SPLM Arman’s political career comes to an end

January 31, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – A senior official in the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) appeared to signal a growing concern over the candidacy of Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) deputy Secretary General Yasir Arman who is running for president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir and a handful of other hopefuls.

In an interview with the London based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat the state minister for foreign affairs Ali Karti who is also the NCP’s foreign affairs official said that SPLM’s pick of Arman is a mere expression of gratitude by the ex-Southern rebel group towards the Northern figure.

“This is just an attempt [by SPLM] to show appreciation to his [Arman] big efforts that he undertook particularly the accusations and abuse and in our assessment it is a reward to what he does. Definitely he would not be an alternative to Kiir [SPLM] chairman” Karti said.

“We hope that he is burned [politically] and is out of the way” he added.

The NCP official said that his party’s decision not to challenge Salva Kiir over South Sudan presidency is out of their belief that they should not “open a door of competition” in South Sudan and also denied that his party is secretly supporting Lam Akol who has defected from the SPLM to found his own party and maintains close links with the ruling party.

Following the decision by the NCP to endorse Kiir for South Sudan presidency, its officials said they want they want the SPLM to do the same and withdraw the candidacy of Arman as a return of favor.

However, the SPLM dismissed the request saying it is a sign of fear that Bashir, who faces an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC), may not win in his reelection bid.

There is growing speculation in Khartoum that the SPLM may end up pulling Arman from the race and endorsing Bashir in order to ensure that the NCP would grant the South Sudanese a smooth path to referendum and secession particularly as many issues remain outstanding with regard to post-independence arrangements including national debt, border demarcation, water and international agreements.

Source:sudantribune.com/

Sierra Leone: Ambassador Bangali On AU Mission in Sudan

Freetown — Sierra Leone's Ambassador to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and permanent representative (PR) to the African Union, His Excellency Ambassador Andrew Bangali, on Tuesday 19th January 2010 left Addis Ababa as a member of the Commission's second pre-election assessment and humanitarian mission to the Republic of Sudan.

The objective of the mission was to assess the state of preparedness of the Sudanese government ahead of the country's elections slated for 11th April 2010.

The mission also undertook a humanitarian assessment duty by visiting internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps in Darfur.

Ambassador Bangali, who is also accredited as Sierra Leone's PR to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa or ECA is vice chair of the sub-committee on refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons, a committee that is drawn up by the AU permanent representatives' committee (PRC) and the African Union Commission.

Other members of the delegation included: The AU commissioner for political affairs, Her Excellency Mrs. Julia Dolly Joiner; Mr. Kimena Polla, Zambia's deputy Ambassador to Ethiopia; Justice Lewis Makame, chairman of Tanzania's Electoral Commission, Mr. Adekunle Adeyemi, erstwhile Ambassador of Nigeria cum expert on conflict resolution; Dr. Fonkam Samuel Azu'u, chairman of the Electoral Commission of Cameroon; Alhaji Chermo Ceesay, special assistant to the Commissioner of Political Affairs; Mr. Guy Cyrille Tapoko, political officer at the political affairs department; Miss Haja Kamara, political officer at the political affairs department and Mrs. Roman Mekonnen, finance officer at the department of finance in the African Union Commission.

The delegation returned to Addis Ababa on Sunday 25th January 2010.

On 26th and 27th January 2010, Ambassador Bangali joined his colleague Ambassadors at the discussions and deliberations of the 19th ordinary session of the PRC ahead of the African Union summit at the commission's headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Ambassador Bangali made series of pivotal interventions during the meeting and also used the occasion to extend Sierra Leone's heartfelt condolences to the victims of the Ethiopian airliner crash that took place on taking off from Beirut airport in Lebanon with 92 passengers on board.
International Organisations
The committee is comprised of African Ambassadors and Permanent Representatives charged with the responsibility of overseeing the work of the commission.

The committee considered items on the agenda of the summit, which they will submit to the Executive Council.

The 16th ordinary session of the executive council scheduled for 28th and 29th January 2010 considered and adopted the report of the PRC for transmission to the heads of state for decisions and declarations.

This year's AU summit is themed: 'Information and Communication Technologies in Africa: Challenges and Prospects for Development.'

Messers Amadu Koroma and Christopher Bockarie - Sierra Leone's deputy Ambassador to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and second secretary at the mission respectively also attended the meeting.

Source:allafrica.com/

INTERVIEW-Sudan rejects US charge on arms transfers to south

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Sudan's U.N. ambassador on Friday dismissed as "irresponsible" U.S. allegations that weapons from northern Sudan were going to armed groups in the semi-autonomous south ahead of a nationwide April election.

Earlier this week the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said Washington was concerned about the flow of arms, including heavy weapons, into southern Sudan, and believed they were coming from northern Sudan and neighboring countries.

Sudanese Ambassador Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem told Reuters that Khartoum "categorically denied" Rice's allegations.

"The statement by the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. attributing arms flows to south Sudan to the north is most irresponsible," he said in an interview.

"It demonstrates that Susan Rice is still imprisoning herself in the past and failed to move from an activist position to that of a worthy representative of a superpower."

He added that it was U.S. arms sales that were making the world less safe, not weapons from his oil-rich African nation.

U.N. officials have said privately that they, too, suspect the north was supplying southern militants with weapons.

The oil-producing nation's north and south fought each other for more than two decades until a 2005 peace deal that promised national elections, due in April, and a referendum on southern independence in January 2011.

The International Crisis Group (ICG), an independent multinational group, has said relations between the two sides have broken down and Sudan needed more time to prepare for a widely expected 'yes' vote for southern independence if it wanted to avoid a violent break-up.

Armies from both sides, and an array of rebel groups and militias, are also stockpiling arms ahead of any conflict, despite U.N. and European Union arms embargoes, according to a December 2009 report by the Small Arms Survey.

The Enough Project, a U.S.-based anti-genocide group, has been saying for months that increasingly sophisticated attacks by the same ethnic-based militias that were used by Khartoum in the south during the civil war was cause for great alarm.

EUROPE'S GUANTANAMO

The Sudanese envoy also reacted angrily to comments from the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, who said this week that he expected a genocide charge soon against Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. [ID:nLDE60R1PZ]

Abdalhaleem said that "the enemies of Sudan" were trying to use Moreno-Ocampo to destroy the peace process for Sudan's western Darfur region and insisted that Khartoum would never cooperate with The Hague-based court.

He said Moreno-Ocampo was "just a screwdriver in the workshop of double standards and injustice and the ICC is the European Guantanamo." He was referring to the controversial U.S. military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Bashir in March 2009 for alleged war crimes in Sudan's western Darfur region in connection with mass killings and deportations, but it said there were insufficient grounds to charge him with genocide.

Moreno-Ocampo appealed that decision to press for a genocide indictment.

The ICC has said it will issue a decision on the appeal on Feb. 3.

Bashir described the warrant against him as "all lies" last year and ordered major aid agencies out of Sudan in response.

Estimates vary widely on how many people have died in the Darfur conflict, which began when mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against the government in 2003. The United Nations says as many as 300,000 have died, but Sudan's estimate is 10,000. (Editing by Paul Simao)

Source:reuters.com/

As UN Spins Statements on Sudan Separatism, Ban's Stance on Sri Lanka Recalled

UNITED NATIONS, February 2 -- Following a protest of the UN in Juba, South Sudan which included calls for "Ban Ki-moon [to] repent before judgment," the UN belated rushed to argue that Mr. Ban was misquoted by AFP about disfavoring a vote for self-determination by the South Sudanese.

Ban's Associate Spokesman Farhan Haq came in late for Tuesday noon briefing at the UN in New York, read a statement then began to leave the podium without taking any questions. Inner City Press called out, will you take questions later? When he did, later, the UN did not transcribe it.

But Inner City Press asked Haq both what the UN says Ban told AFP, and how Ban's statement about making unity attractive does not indicate a preference. Haq argued that this language is from the CPA. He said he would later provide Ban's actually words to those interested. Video here, from Minute 1:50.

When Inner City Press went to Haq's office before six p.m. on Tuesday, it was closed. The Deputy Spokesperson handed Inner City Press a print out in which AFP had dutifully modified the quote. This was taken at face value.

But also in Haq's begrudging Q &A period, when Inner City Press asked about UN vehicles stolen in Darfur, Haq answered that this would not undermine the UN's "relationship" with "military leaders of Sudan." Video here, from Minute 3:33.

Ban Ki-moon, whether due to personal beliefs or by letting others in his administration take the lead, has elsewhere come down firmly on the side of central governments over minorities seeking autonomy.



Protest of UN and Ban in South Sudan, Tribune


During the Sri Lankan bloodbath on the beach of 2009, for example, he and his closest advisors were seen as doing little to stop the Rajapaksa regime in Colombo from bombing civilians in norther Sri Lanka, to crush "separatism."

This is not irrelevant from consideration of Ban Ki-moon's statements and attitudes about Sudan. You can make AFP run a correction, then dodge and not transcribe questions, but the issue remains and will be pursued. Watch this site.

Source:innercitypress.com/